opinionated alchemist

I found this great interview on nightclub.com - in which Jon Taffer is interviewed. He is the host and expert of Bar Rescue [if you are one bar industry professional who didn't watched few episodes - shame on you] . Jon Taffer could be called also "very opinionated" - right on my alley...  however due to his brand involvement and definitely also his age, I do have often the feeling, that he is all the time a couple of steps behind real cutting edge trends and ideas. Anyway - a lot of wisdom isn't "aging" at all, and I definitely don't want to take any credit, which Taffer deserves.... Lighting innovations and LED technology... Yes - Taffer is definitely right, that this changed a lot.  Is it a cutting edge trend though? Nope - we do have LED's already quite long, and there is not much more, which really caught mainstream, which is very innovative. Maybe the problem of this is: the price! B2B companies, which offering (sometime questio...

Not long ago, there was a post about the Singapore Sling on Facebook, and I commented on it.  Point is, that it is unlikely - or better said, close to impossible, that the contemporary recipe [which is said to be the original recipe] was invented in the 1920's. Ok - let's first of all see the recipe: IBA specified ingredients* 3 cl  Gin 1.5 cl  Heering  Cherry Liqueur (cherry  brandy ) 0.75 cl  Cointreau 0.75 cl DOM  Bénédictine 1 cl  Grenadine 12 cl  Pineapple juice 1.5 cl Fresh  lime juice 1 dash  Angostura bitters Preparation Pour all ingredients into cocktail shaker filled with ice cubes. Shake well. Strain into highball glass. Garnish with pineapple and cocktail cherry. David Wondrich, one of my favourite cocktail historians discussed the Singapore Sling here . And I do agree. I like his research, which showed the unlikeliness, that no cherry eau de vie was used - rather than Bols cherry li...

Official press picture of bacardilimited There is no shortage of company copying and ripping off each other in the spirit business. Since the introduction of Grey Goose by the mastermind Sydney Frank, there are dozen of premium and premiumer vodka brands coming out every year [last was the battle between Absolut [Pernod-Ricard] of their premiumest Elix and the counter of Bacardi with their Grey Goose V.X. This is quite normal and not especially dirty. Maybe a bit naive, though. But look what I found [picture besides]. Bacardi has "now" an "authentic" vodka with a very "unique" bell-shaped bottle. With a wolf as logo shouting out. Do you see any resemblance? I found the parallels with Russian Standard fascinating. Even the marketing stories [yeah - please don't be so naive and believe anything what they are telling you about a recipe from the 18th century - all a marketing lie] are very similar [Georgian vs. Russian... but still]. The...

I have found this video in the newsfeed on Facebook and wondered - is such products great for the bar? It sounds all great: more consistency, more flavor - cheaper cost. What not to like? This is not necessary only this product, which is rather fresh on the market - it is also well known brands like Funkin' Fruit Purees and even Boiron, which are in the focus here. As you might already sense now (and could take it out of the title) - I do have a different opinion about it. For me, these products don't help - and here is why: Making a product shelf-stable [after you open it], means that it consist conservative substances. A commercial product usually also uses less expensive sweeteners like high fructose corn syrup. Products like those, jeopardize the position of the bar as part of the culinary arts - usually great restaurants use great seasonal produce - no convenience products! Using this type of products will spoil operators and guests - if flavors are ...

I really wanted to do some house-crafted limoncello today, for our Italian restaurant. And instead of zesting lemons, I had the idea of using whole fruits. Yes - usually zests working better - because there is far more surface. However my good friend, the sous-vide immersion circulator helped to cut the time in a fraction of traditional limoncello. The normal procedure of limoncello is: Zest [cleaned] lemons Add them into alcohol Traditionally high proof grain alcohol is used - however using vodka is just fine, if you are regarding the difference in ABV. Obviously in Italy high proof booze is used, as it is in production far cheaper than the refined product 'vodka'. Wait for several weeks [depending on the size of the zest pieces]. Strain and add sugar syrup [depending on the original occurring alcohol strength and the target strength]. Bottle and label. Now - I want to do this procedure as well - with two major differences: I want to use whole lemons - du...

Aging cocktails in oak is no more really cutting edge. A lot of bartender are doing it. But are you doing something meaningful with it? I have seen bartenders aging moonshine or corn whiskey - not really meaningful. Your Negroni? Not very novel... Well I received a sample oak bottles [and bought directly 2 more] of Ulric Nice - especially UAE and Dubai folks will know him [but he is also known by quite a lot of other popular bar people]. I used them now over a couple of months and I can attest, that they are really effective - far more effective than an oak barrel. In a bar, time is key - you don't want to age a several gallons of liquor for half a year or so... you want to have fast results - and the oak bottle is all about quick results. Our take at the Library Bar was a Last Word cocktail - hardly a very creative choice for an oak aged cocktail - but a delicious and sophisticated one nonetheless. We didn't kept it too long in the bottle and only aged the liqu...

I am usually not a big fan of mocktails! Really - come to a bar and drink some proper drinks - or just drink water, a soft drink or orange juice [please spare me, with something like watermelon juice or kiwi juice!]. However being a beverage manager of a resort, also included "creative" introductions of alcohol free drinks - and especially in family restaurants, you will sell a lot! So - as you can see on the picture, these are a quite evolutionary type of drink! Basically it is an instant soda pop. You muddle your fruit and/or herb [you can add also some syrups like elderflower or vanilla] - you fill the glass with ice and fill it up with a neutral soda pop base. This contains water, sugar, citric acid, carbon dioxide, a small pinch of salt and a small pinch of bicarbonate of soda. I actually realized, that adding a bit salt and bicarbonate really boost the flavors and make the "pop" sing!  I am using Soda Plus, to carbonate the soda b...